NOTES 



Great Science and Little Science 



We men of science are apt to complain of want of recog- 

 nition of our work ; but, to be frank, most of our work 

 is really of little value. Amongst the enormous output of 

 scientific literature, by far the largest proportion of the 

 papers are of a petty nature — records of hypotheses, records 

 of a few haphazard observations, inconclusive, mere lumber 

 to be thrown into the dusty attics of knowledge. Such works 

 bear to the great works of science the same relation that 

 the artist's pot-boiler bears to the classical picture. Do not 

 let our hearts be too uplifted with pride in stuff of this type. 

 We think that when we have published our records we have 

 given the world something to remember. But the world, like 

 the individual, cannot remember every trifling occurrence ; 

 and the trifles of science are like the trifles of our daily life — 

 to be forgotten to-morrow. When the man comes who 

 shall finally cultivate the whole field in which we have been 

 picking daisies, he will probably do so without troubling even 

 to consider our little excursions. The great work by Major 

 MacMahon so ably reviewed by " C." in this number should 

 chasten our pride. It is a monument of science which 

 required thirty years in the making. After all, what is the 

 difference between high science and low science ? The one is 

 the solution of difficult problems, the other the record of 

 isolated observations. The latter is sometimes useful indeed — 

 sometimes even leads to great discoveries ; but, successful or 

 not, it does not merit the honour which we give to the former. 

 Here we have a work which is really an event in human 

 history, if men were only intelligent enough to recognise it. 

 Great problems once solved are always solved ; and the 

 solutions are milestones in the life-story of the race. 



Brainless Britain 



Much agitation has been produced among men of science 

 and learning in general by the proposal of Government to close 



658 



